It is well known that patients who are confined to a bed or chair for extended periods of time are at risk of developing decubitus ulcers, i.e., pressure sores, or bed sores as they are more commonly known. These ulcers are often seen to develop within soft tissue that is compressed between a bed or chair surface and a patient's weight-bearing bony prominences, the compressed tissue being at least partially of deprived of oxygenated blood flow. A continued lack of blood flow, and resultant lack of oxygen, can result in cell death which may be evidenced in the form of pressure sores. Pressure sores do not develop immediately, but rather form over time, with the development speed depending on a number of factors including the firmness and friction of the supporting surface against the patient's skin, the patient/ambient temperature, blood pressure, the amount of moisture in contact with the skin, and the health and susceptibility of the skin due to age or illness.
One venerable and generally accepted means of reducing the risk of decubitus ulcer development in bedfast patients is to turn them regularly, usually at approximately two hour intervals. For example, a patient in a back rest position might be periodically rolled to one side or the other, such motion helping to maintain blood to flow to soft tissue that is under compression. Similar strategies are employed for patients that are confined to a chair for long periods of time. Obviously, an assisted-movement strategy relies to a large extent on the vigilance of the (often harried) attending staff to insure that the patient is properly relocated.
However, to the extent that the patient has some capacity for self movement, the patient should be encouraged to turn himself or herself. However, even if the patient has recently moved under his/her own power, the staff will generally not recognize that fact and will turn the patient again at the next scheduled time. This means that the patient may be roused from a sound slumber to be turned even if that is not really necessary. Since the typical turn interval is about every two hours, it should be clear that it can be difficult under normal circumstances for a patient that might be at risk of bed sores to get much rest.
Of course, as important as rest might be to a convalescing patient, it can be proved to be difficult to rest in an institutional environment such as a hospital, nursing home, etc. That is, in a hospital or nursing home there is near-constant activity and such activity continues during both day and night. Of course, the ill and recovering patients desperately needs uninterrupted sleep which may be elusive in such a setting.
In this context, it is well known that a relatively constant-level sound source such as “white noise” can mask low-level background noises and has the potential to help an individual sleep uninterruptedly. White noise and similar sounds have been used to assist patients with insomnia, restlessness, sleeplessness, tinnitus, ADD/ADHD, and hyperacusis get to sleep. Sources of such “noise” are found in nature (e.g., the sound of ocean waves, a babbling brook, rain, etc.), in technology (fans, air conditioners, etc.), and they can be mathematically generated according to algorithms well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. However, in any case, the consequences of introducing such a sound source into the patient's environment can result in a dramatic improvement in sleep quality. Obviously, to the extent that the patient rests more soundly he or she will be less likely to rise from the bed or other support surface, thus reducing the likelihood of an injurious fall.
Whether it be for purposes of fall prevention, detection of wetness, or any other reason a chronic shortage of caregivers has resulted in an increasing reliance on microprocessor-based monitoring of patients. Indeed, in the area of decubitus ulcers some advances have been made in recent years, but those inventions typically have to do with notifying caregivers that a patient needs to be moved and/or automatically adjusting the bed to shift the patient's weight distribution.
Thus, what is needed is an electronic patient monitor that encourages a bedfast patient to move on his or her own and, if that does not happen, notifies the caregiver that the patient needs to be turned. Additionally, and more generally, what is needed is an electronic patient monitor that can create masking sounds to help the patient sleep more soundly.
Heretofore, as is well known in the patient monitor arts, there has been a need for an invention to address and solve the above-described problems and, more particularly, there has been a need for an electronic device that functions both as a patient monitor and as a white-noise source for purposes assisting the monitored patient monitored rest more completely in an institutional environment or elsewhere. Accordingly, it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventors, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a system for monitoring patients that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or preferred embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.